Alongside a couple of personal days, I’ve been busy on my travels since my last blog.

What at one point looked to be a manic week (including jury duty) thankfully calmed itself down to training sessions in Renfrewshire and Dumfries & Galloway. And jolly fun they were too, exploring social media and its role within consultation, and having some really interesting conversations with the very welcoming staff from both local authorities.

As I sat at yet another temporary traffic light en route, it got me thinking about where training is going. What doe the future hold for our learning? We now have a range of online tools that allow us to share video, resources and get involved in real time discussions. And most of them are free, meaning access isn’t a massive issue, although connectivity may remain a barrier for some.

I fully agree that having a trainer in front of you is something that can’t be replaced - I think for most it helps us to learn easier, and to get real answers to our follow up questions where appropriate. But it’s often a big time/money commitment to learn within a physical training environment. For some, there just isn’t the training budget to commit to a ‘real’ course. And that’s presuming there is a local course that fits your requirements (an issue for me recently).

I’ve tried some online courses, and they work well. But not well enough for me. The opportunity to learn at my own pace is great, and in a lot of cases (like Futurelearn) the cost is low or non-existent. But they haven’t clicked for me as yet. There’s an element missing.

Is there a happy medium where the real and digital world meet to offer the perfect training environment? One that is flexible to the demands of the modern world, without sacrificing quality? Or is it a case of horses for courses, where we all choose the one that is best for us based on our learning needs, and accept that there may be something missing?

It’s an area I want to explore. I’m beginning to think that there is potential in seeing if something new can be developed and tested. And not just as a trainer, but as someone who enjoys learning myself.